Weather Whys; Greenhouse Effect

This is weather wise. The greenhouse effect, or more properly, the atmosphere effect is the subject of a lot of discussion these days in the scientific community. The atmosphere effect describes how trace gases in the atmosphere cause the earth to be warmer than it would be without them. The reason is trace gases, such as carbon dioxide, water vapor, and methane, absorb and irradiate, or trap a significant fraction of the infrared radiation the earth would normally emit into space. The increased concentrations are caused by the burning of fossil fuels, and by worldwide increases in agricultural activity. But to many, there's a concern that changes in trace gases could lead to higher temperatures worldwide, and some scientists are convinced global warming will be the end result. But other scientists say the increased gas concentrations might ultimately lead to a cooling effect, because the initially warmer air could hold more water vapor.

That might lead to greater cloud cover, and increased cloud cover might cause a significant decrease in the amount of solar radiation received on the earth's surface and so lower temperatures. But as of today, there are too many uncertainties about how the earth's atmosphere might react to the growing concentrations of trace gases, so no one knows for sure what will happen. Weather-wise is produced with the assistance of the National Weather Service Forecast Office and the National Severe Storms Laboratory, both in Norman, Oklahoma, and the Cooperative Institute for Mesoscale Meteorological Studies, the Oklahoma Climateological Survey, and the School of Meteorology, all at the University of Oklahoma. Our writer is Christine Harbour. Our editor is Brian Walking, with original music by Barry Stramp. Weather-wise is made possible by a grant from the National Science Foundation. For Weather-wise, I'm Drew Barlow.